I'm teaching News Writing / Journalism, and I've found a couple of good documentaries to show the students, and hopefully inspire them to be more interested in the world around them, both in China and the world as a whole.

I showed them China Rises and a BBC production - The Party's Over: How the West Went Bust. We had a discussion followed by them doing a write-up on the documentaries.

Both were 60 minutes, so they actually needed two 90 minute classes to do a full lesson.

Any suggestions on other 'riveting'/interesting/question-asking documentaries that would work well? Lengthwise, 30-60 minutes is good.

My students have enjoyed National Geographic's "Lost in China" series.
It is about 2 American guys that spent a few years growing up in Harbin with their father who was supposedly one of the first foreign teachers in Harbin.
The documentary is about their return to China.